


you're copper and tellurium (cute)

by topsecretramen



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: AP Chem, Alternate Universe - AP Chemistry, Alternate Universe - High School, Chemistry, Fluff, M/M, NCT Dream - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Students, renmin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 12:58:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18993121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/topsecretramen/pseuds/topsecretramen
Summary: Huang Renjun is a high school junior hating his life because he signed up for AP Chem. Out of desperation to save his GPA, he gets a tutor, but what happens when he finds out that it is the mysterious yet handsome Na Jaemin?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OK this was written in like June of 2018 and I just wanted to post it because I wrote a lot of it so pls enjoy because I love my children.

Signing up for AP Chemistry may have been the worst decision Renjun had ever made. Normally an honor roll student, the boy had never struggled with a single class ever in his life. Until now.   
  
Today, the class is going over a recent test. Renjun had spent all night studying his notes, rereading the textbook, and even watching youtube videos to review, but he felt like he could barely answer half of the questions. He sits in his seat, palms sweaty and only getting worse as their teacher begins passing back their exams. He could feel the drops of sweat forming and falling down his face. His GPA is on the line. Renjun has never had below an A before and now, he could be seeing a C on his transcript. He prays that he did enough to pass as the teacher slowly approaches his desk. “Huang Renjun, nice work sir,” says Mr. Lee, setting down his paper.    
  
Renjun could not believe it: 92. Tears begin to creep up on the shaken up boy. If he kept this up, he may be able to hold onto his honor roll status. He didn’t know what to think. That sleepless night of reviewing may have paid off, but with 4 more tests in the semester, Renjun couldn’t imagine repeating that again. He sees Mr. Lee walk over to his side of the class again. “Renjun, could you pass this to Na Jaemin sitting behind you?”   
  
Renjun turns to see the kid sleeping behind him. Then again, when is he not sleeping in class? Renjun has never seen the boy in their school before this class, and even so, he has yet to see him awake. Everyday Renjun walked into class, he would be there already with his head down on a textbook. He assumes the boy didn’t care about his grades so he peeked at the number at the top of the page. But to his surprise, a 100 was written in large red ink. Renjun squints his eyes multiple times to make sure he is looking at the number right. How could this sleeping kid behind him get such a good score? He even got the bonus right (which didn’t even matter cause Mr. Lee never gives over a 100 anyways). Before he looked too suspicious, Renjun turns around again to wake up the sleeping kid. He taps on the textbook, and Jaemin slowly rises up. “Can I help you?” the now awake Jaemin asks, clearly annoyed that Renjun woke him up before the bell could.    
  
Renjun responds nervously , handing the boy his paper, “Ah, sorry! U-um, here’s your test. Mr. Lee told me to pass it back to you!”   
  
“Thanks,” Jaemin replies sarcastically, snatching the paper out of Renjun’s hands.    
  
Jaemin takes one look at his test, smirks, then places his head back on the textbook, right where it was before. Renjun could not believe his eyes. Was this class a joke for Jaemin? He had spent hours doing everything he could to understand the material, but this kid just slept and got better grades with ease. Renjun wishes that he had never taken a peek of that stupid boy’s test, because now even Jaemin’s existence irked him. He takes a look back at his own test, flipping through his mistakes and taking mental notes of what to look out for. While he couldn’t control what the sleeping kid behind him did, he could control his own actions. He decides to forget about Jaemin and focus on doing better for next time. Luckily, the bell rings and it is now time for lunch. Renjun quickly packs up his stuff and heads straight for the cafeteria to meet up with his friends: Mark, Donghyuck, Jeno, Chenle, and Jisung.    
  
“Hey Renjunnie !! How was Chem today?” Chenle shouts, waving to the other boy as he sits down.    
  
“I got a 93 on my test!” Renjun tries to respond enthusiastically, still caught up in the situation earlier with Jaemin.    
  
Unfortunately for Renjun, all his friends are able to see right through the false happiness. Of course, they are ecstatic that their friend finally did well on an AP Chem test, but it’s clear that something is still bothering Renjun. “That’s great! But something seems off, are you completely okay?” Mark says, speaking for the group.   
  
“What do you mean? I’m as happy as ever!” Renjun continues cheerily.   
  
“Are you really? Something still doesn’t seem right with you. You sure nothing is bothering you?” Jisung questions (suspiciously), none of them even coming close to believing Renjun’s act.   
  
Renjun realizes that there’s no way out and gives in. He sighs before beginning his story, “Well, there’s this kid who sits behind me in class. He’s always sleeping during Mr. Lee’s lectures, right? But I saw he got a 100 on the test, and I don’t know it really frustrated me to see the kid that never pays attention in class doing so well when I studied so much the night before.”   
  
“Hey you know what will make you feel better?  Froyo after school, you up for some?” Donghyuck is the first to respond. He always knows what to say to lift people’s spirits, and the others nod in agreement at the sound of froyo. 

  
“It’s alright, I think I’m gonna start studying again when I get home. I need to keep this up to raise my Chem grade.” Renjun says, turning down the offer.   
  
“Oh come on! Are you really gonna study for the next test when Mr. Lee has yet to start the next unit?” Jeno persists, trying to convince his friend to chill with them for once.   
  
Jeno did have a point. The Organic Chem unit starts tomorrow, and while it never hurts to read ahead, Renjun is sure he wouldn’t be able to understand anything the textbook said without the help of Mr. Lee. Renjun gives in. “Okay sure. I guess some froyo would be nice.”   
  
“Great! We’ll leave right after school,” Donghyuck says before the bell rings, signalling that lunch is now over. 


	2. Chapter 2

The last bell of the day finally rings, and Renjun hurriedly packs up all his things before dashing to the other side of the school to meet up with his friends. Unlucky for him, having Art at the very end of the day means walking across the entire school to get to the student parking lot. By the time Renjun gets there, the others are practically ready to drive off without him. “Hurry up!! Get in Jeno’s car and let’s go! I want froyo!” Jisung shouts from Mark’s car.    
  
Renjun looks into his hyung’s car to see Donghyuck in the passenger seat. Chenle and Jisung messing around in the back. None of the friends wanted to get in Jeno’s car (since he got his license literally a week ago), so it is going to be just the two of them. Renjun isn’t too mad about that. Jeno is chill and easy to talk to.   
  
Renjun steps into the passenger side of Jeno’s car, the other boy smiling at him while he buckles in. “How was your day, Jeno?” Renjun asks, secretly praying that Jeno is a good driver.    
  
“Ahh, nothing much. I’m glad I signed up for easy classes this year. I have a lot of free time.” Jeno smiles, looking as happy as ever.    
  
“Ugh, lucky. Why did I sign up for all these dumb AP classes? I’m not even majoring in Chemistry!” Renjun replies, sort of shocked at how well Jeno is driving actually.   
  
Jeno simply laughs before turning into the frozen yogurt place, Freezies. Renjun has never heard of the place before. Was it always here?    
  
The two get out of the car, the other 4 members of their group already inside. When they get inside, Chenle and Jisung are already piling his cup high with loads of extra toppings. Renjun laughs at the sight of the two younger ones and heads over to the machines. He is much more simple and goes for the banana flavor with no extra toppings. Despite getting there after Mark, Donghyuck, Chenle, and Jisung, Renjun is the first in line ready to pay for his cup.    
  
A worker steps out of the backroom and up to the cash register. He is wearing a pink and green polo with a matching hat, which covered most of his face from Renjun’s view point. But when the worked looks up grab Renjun’s cup to weigh, they instantly recognize each other. The worker is none other than Na Jaemin, the sleepy smarty pants in his Chem class. “Hey what’s up, Renjun right?” Jaemin asks while ringing up Renjun’s order.    
  
Renjun could only muster up a “ya,” still in shock to be meeting the kid that slept everyday in Mr. Lee’s class.   
  
“Yum! Banana’s my favorite too. My friend’s gave me the nickname Nana cause of it!” Jaemin says, a bit too flirtatiously for Renjun’s liking.    
  
Still flustered from their previous meeting with him, Renjun silently hands Jaemin the cash and takes his cup of froyo.   
  
“Bye Renjunnie, see you in class tomorrow!” Jaemin shouts to the boy walking away.   
  
_ As if he would even be awake for class _ , Renjun thinks to himself, walking away from the embarrassing scene. He digs into his froyo while waiting for the rest of his friends to pay, but his mind could not wander off of Jaemin. These two encounters were the most he had ever heard of the boy, and honestly, he wouldn’t mind if they were the last. It still upset him that Jaemin of all people, the kid that completely ignored Mr. Lee’s daily lectures, would get a 100 on the test.    
  
Soon Chenle and Jisung approach Renjun, who is halfway done with his froyo. “Hey Renjunnie, who was that?” Chenle questions his older friend.    
  
“Some kid in my Chem class. Don’t worry about it” Renjun tries to seem natural, brushing it off as if it was nothing, but his friends know better than that. It is simple to read Renjun at this point.   
  
“OH IS HE THE ONE THAT GOT A 100 AND MADE YOU UPSET” Chenle realizes, screaming loud enough for Jaemin to hear and for Renjun to facepalm himself.    
  
Out of the corner of Renjun’s eyes, he could see Jaemin chuckling to himself while finalizing Jeno, Mark, and Donghyuck’s orders. If he could, Renjun would have choked his friend right there in the middle of the store. Instead, Renjun hid his face in embarrassment, scolding Chenle for his loud, almost dolphin-like squeals. Soon, the remaining 3 of their friends sit down with their froyos. Renjun is nearly finished with his cup at this point. Mark and Donghyuck have smug looks on their faces. “So that’s...  _ the _ guy” Donghyuck says, looking back to get a good view of Jaemin.   
  
Renjun, his face red as tomato, only nods his head up and down. What he originally thought was going to be a chill time with his friends has turned into a nightmare. Hopefully, as long as Renjun never visits this froyo place again, he would never have to see Jaemin awake ever again. Two encounters in one day with the dude is too much for his poor, stressed out soul. “You know, Renjun, you never told me that the sleeping smartypants was actually kind of cute” pointed out Jeno, stuffing his face with his strawberry cheesecake yogurt and giggling at the same time.   
  
“EW! I hate people like him: the people that don’t try yet make stellar grades,” the still bitter boy responds.   
  
“I mean, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a gorgeous face you know” Jeno retorts, knowing that he is right. The dude had a face of a Greek God: perfect eyes, nose, jawline, and especially perfect smile.    
  
Renjun couldn’t lie and say Jaemin isn’t totally beautiful, but his pride keeps him from admitting it. He changes topics, switching to talking about his other AP classes (choosing to take 6 of them was a nightmare, but Chem was most definitely the biggest mistake), “But anyways, we got a paper assigned today in AP Lit and I’m not caught up in Jane Eyre, how far along in the book are y’all?”    
  
“Ms. Kim didn’t assign us anything yet. Maybe your teacher is just being a pain. Not gonna lie I’m been sparknoting everything so far,” Jeno speaks for him, Mark, and Donghyuck who were all in the same class. Chenle and Jisung were still juniors, so their time in AP Literature would start next year.   
  
The group continues to go on and on about various classes and schoolwork until everyone finishes their cups. With homework still needing to be done, the 6 friends decide to call it a night and go home, which made Renjun ecstatic to finally get out of the shop, away from the boy he had only really met that day. He hopes that he could soon forget everything that happened on that day, but sadly for Renjun, this is just the beginning.   



End file.
